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New Civics Education Program Puts a Local Lens on Landmark Supreme Court Cases

homesafetytechpros — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 18:53:14 +0000

High school students in the St. Louis area participate in a new civics education program at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse.
Eighth Circuit Clerk of Court Michael E. Gans provides students with insights into the appellate process.

Twenty-two high school students in the St. Louis area were the first to participate in a new civics education program teaching them about the federal Judiciary through a landmark Supreme Court case that originated in their hometown and local court.

“By hosting the program in the very court where a particular case began, and then immersing the students in not only the law and facts of the case but, as importantly, the people and places, the program powerfully connects students to the factual roots the case has with the students’ hometown,” said U.S. District Chief Judge Stephen R. Clark, who kicked off the national initiative at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in the Eastern District of Missouri.

The multi-day program, called The Supreme Court and My Hometown, immerses students in the analysis of facts, trials, and appeals that lead to Supreme Court decisions. During the inaugural program, students explored the constitutional questions and procedural history of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, a 1988 free speech case involving student journalists at Hazelwood East High School in St. Louis.

The program was run in partnership with the Supreme Court Historical Society and the St. Louis Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

“One of the primary missions of the Supreme Court Historical Society is to increase public knowledge about both the history of the Supreme Court and the federal Judiciary, and the importance of their independence,” said James C. Duff, executive director. “Students will see how issues of local and regional significance can have national impact as well. In this way, they also learn about how a case progresses to the Supreme Court and the role the federal courts play in the process.”

Students prepare for a moot court proceeding during The Supreme Court and My Hometown program in St. Louis.

By partnering with the Supreme Court Historical Society, federal courts can host unique experiences for students that may include educational sessions with legal mentors, teaching how to write a legal brief, putting on a student-led moot court proceeding of a landmark Supreme Court case that originated at the court, and more.

“Many students, especially in rural areas, believe the court system is so out of reach and that warps their perception on the system as a whole,” said Cordelia Elder, a high school student who participated in the St. Louis program. “It is necessary for students to learn this information, and it was such a privilege to learn it in the building it happens in.”

Students also complete a final project designed to promote their increased understanding of the impact of the hometown case. In St. Louis, students worked with the Eighth Circuit Library to design a panel display about Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier that includes the background of the case and the impact of the Supreme Court decision. The display will be unveiled at the St. Louis Judicial Learning Center later this year.

“To the person who walks through the doors of an imposing courthouse for his or her case, courthouses can be intimidating,” Clark said. “All the more so with the Supreme Court. The program dissipates the intimidation factor by welcoming students into the courthouse over the course of a semester and connecting them with the broad array of people who work there.”

High school student Aiyla Ahmad found The Supreme Court and My Hometown both informative and rewarding.

“I gained a very important inside perspective on our court system and also learned a lot about how a case moves through the courts and makes it to the Supreme Court,” Ahmad said. “I also discovered many different jobs in the judicial branch.”

Students can apply now for June programs in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Indianapolis, Indiana, from the Supreme Court Historical Society website. Applications are due by March 1.

To learn more about the program, contact Nicole Maffei, the director of civics education for the Supreme Court Historical Society.

Related Topics: Public Education

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Proposed bill puts speed governors in California cars

homesafetytechpros — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 16:06:46 +0000

FILE – Traffic on the Hollywood Freeway, Dec. 12, 2018, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

The days of high-speed chases in California may be numbered.

A new law proposed by state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat who represents parts of San Francisco, would require all new cars sold in the Golden State to have devices installed that would stop the vehicle from going more than 10 mph faster than the speed limit.

“Senate Bill 961 requires changes to vehicles directly, including a first-in-the-nation requirement that all new vehicles sold in California install speed governors, smart devices that automatically limit the vehicle’s speed to 10 miles above the legal limit,” said a press release from Wiener’s office announcing the proposed legislation.

“Speed governors,” the statement explains, are “vehicle technologies that prevent vehicles from exceeding a certain speed.”

The law, which would affect cars sold in the state starting in 2027, would also require “side underride guards on trucks, to reduce the risk of cars and bikes being pulled underneath the truck during a crash,” the statement says.

Not all cars would be subject to the speed limitation devices.

“The bill would exempt emergency vehicles from this requirement and would authorize the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol to authorize the disabling of the system on other vehicles based on specified criteria,” the proposed legislation says.

“A violation of either of these prohibitions would be punishable as a crime,” the bill also says.

A second, related bill, the release says, “requires that Caltrans, the state transportation agency, make physical improvements like new crosswalks and curb extensions on state-owned surface streets to better accommodate pedestrians, cyclists, the disability community, and transit users.”

The proposed laws were sparked by an increase in vehicle-related deaths, according to the statement. Statistics cited in the release show that traffic fatalities in the state have gone up by 22% from 2019 to 2022, compared to 19% for the U.S. overall, and in 2022, 4,400 Californians died in car crashes.

“The alarming surge in road deaths is unbearable and demands an urgent response,” said Wiener in the statement. “There is no reason for anyone to be going over 100 miles per hour on a public road, yet in 2020, California Highway Patrol issued over 3,000 tickets for just that offense. Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes.”

Wiener’s office noted that reckless driving has gone up since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, with speeding-related crashes going up around 23% from 2019-2022.

Under the law, the speed governors installed in the cars would contain technology to pick up on the local speed limit and adjust as needed.

“Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) refers to systems that use GPS technology and sometimes on-board cameras to determine the speed limit on a specific roadway, issuing driver warnings through audio, visual, or vibration signals and/or limiting vehicle speeds accordingly,” the press release says.

Wiener told the Los Angeles Times that he would consider changes to the bill, such as whether to require active speed governors, which actually work to reduce the speed of cars that go faster than 10 mph over the limit, or passive limiters, who provide warnings and notifications to speeding drivers.

In Los Angeles, the paper notes, for the first time in a decade, there were more traffic deaths in 2023 than homicides.

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